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Think regional locks on movie streaming and other digital goods are silly? So does the European Commission. It's outlining a new strategy (the Digital Single Market) that would prevent companies from geo-blocking online services when it's not truly necessary. This kind of arbitrary limit "cannot exist" in a single European Union-wide digital marketplace, officials argue. It's not clear what rules will be involved (you'll likely hear more about that when the full strategy is due in May), but the implication is that you wouldn't be forced to download or stream from a country-specific service. If you wanted to watch French Netflix from Germany, for example, you could.

Ever since a drunk intelligence officer crashed a drone on the White House lawn, questions have been raised about their safety and how such "accidents" can be avoided in the future. Drone makers have already introduced measures to restrict drone flights in certain areas, but over in Europe, the House of Lords EU Committee has laid out a new set of guidelines that, if implemented, could make drone use safer for all involved.

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EUeuropegoogleICOprivacyPrivacy PolicyFri, 30 Jan 2015 07:44:00 -050021|21137112http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/12/17/city-of-steam-consolidating-eu-servers-on-december-22nd/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Massively&ncid=rss_semi
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If you've played City of Steam in the EU and thought to yourself, "Man, there are just too many servers for this game right now," the developers agree with you, which is why the server list is being consolidated down to a single server as of December 22nd. Characters will be automatically transferred, with character names getting server tags to make sure naming issues sorted out before they arise.

Players on the current EU3 server will be receiving a compensation package that includes a 90-day subscription and a variety of other materials for character advancement. The five-characters-per-server limit will be enforced with prejudice; the staff is simply deleting the oldest or least-played characters on an account if the merge puts someone over five characters on the final server. So take care of that issue before it arises on the 22nd.

Earlier this week, there were reports that the European Parliament would recommend that Google search be split off from other parts of the business. Today, the Parliament has passed a vote the effectively confirms that intention. More specifically, the vote states "The online search market is of particular importance in ensuring competitive conditions within the digital single market", calling on the European Commission "To prevent any abuse in the marketing of interlinked services by operators of search engines". Note, that this doesn't just apply to Google, but potentially any search engine provider. With the motion stressing "the need to prevent online companies from abusing dominant positions" and the recommendation of "unbundling search engines from other commercial services." The European Parliament doesn't have the authority to command member states take action, rather it serves as a strong message to regulators and policy makers that can. Google has declined to comment.

Symantec said that the recently detailed Regin spyware looked like it was created for government surveillance, and there's now some strong support for that claim. Both Kaspersky Lab and Wired understand that the super-sophisticated malware was used to infiltrate both Belgian carrier Belgacom and cryptographer Jean-Jacques Quisquater. Given that the NSA and Britain's GCHQ have been linked to these malware attacks, it's easy to connect the dots -- from all indications, one or both spy agencies used Regin to snoop on these targets. There are also hints that it may have been used to hack into the European Commission back in 2011. The Commission's director of security couldn't tell Wired if the malware in that incident was the same, but the code involved was built from a "series of elements" that worked together, like Regin does.

Google's been caught up in an antitrust tango with the European Union for years, and since the EU hasn't been thrilled with the search giant's attempted concessions, there might be an extreme new option on the table. According to a report from the Financial Times, the European Parliament is expected to ask Google to split itself in twain, leaving its search business separate from the rest of its commercial operations (we've reached out to Google and the European Commission for comment, and will update this story if/when they get back to us). If all goes well (or poorly, if you're a Googler), the matter -- which has the combined support of the European People's Party and the European Socialists & Democrats -- is expected to be put to a vote as soon as next Thursday.

Apple and other tech giants had better not lean too heavily on Ireland's super-favorable tax environment; at least one big perk is going away. Finance minister Michael Noonan has detailed a new budget that, among other things, will phase out the "double Irish" system that let companies operating in Ireland (including Apple) move their revenue to an Ireland-registered offshore tax haven. As of 2015, companies incorporated in the country will have four years to make sure that they're also tax resident -- that is, they'll pay the same as any other corporation operating on the Emerald Isle.

It's no secret that plenty of people are using (and abusing) the European Union's "right to be forgotten" online, but have you wondered just how these requests tend to break down? You won't have to wonder for much longer. Google has updated its Transparency Report with a new section for European search removal requests, letting you see how many requests it gets in a given EU country, how often it honors them and which websites are typically affected.

Remember those two European satellites that went spectacularly off-course in August? Well, it turns out that the reason the vessels entered into the wrong orbit was due to frozen fuel lines. Space Travelreports that pipes containing the Russian Soyuz rocket's (which put the satellites into space) propellent were placed too close to some pretty frigid helium lines, which in turn restricted the flow of fuel to a pair of altitude control thrusters and subsequently caused a lack of power. The good news is that this "design flaw" is apparently fixable easily and immediately for future missions. That won't help the Galileo GPS satellites for now however, because they don't have enough fuel to reach the intended orbit. Assuming there's enough money to go around there's always next time, at least.

After setting Apple firmly in its crosshairs, the European Commission is now targeting retail giant Amazon's tax dealings. In a press release this morning, the Commission announced it's opened an "in-depth investigation" into the company's tax status in the tiny country of Luxembourg -- home to Amazon's European subsidiary. Since 2003, Amazon has recorded the majority of its regional profits in the country, but those profits are not taxed there. As with the aforementioned Apple probe, the Commission believes that the favorable tax deal is tantamount to illegal state aid, and will now investigate Amazon and Luxembourg in an attempt to prove that. So far, Luxembourg has failed to fully comply with requests for further information, but with the Commission turning up the heat, it's unlikely that either party will be able to hide from the investigation.

US regulators may have given Facebook's $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp the thumbs-up some time ago, but the social network was still waiting for the EU to do the same. Now, thankfully, approval has been handed down from European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, who says that, thanks to the presence of healthy rivals like Line, Viber and iMessage, the deal won't hamper competition in the messaging market. Zuckberg and Co. had to agree to protect user privacy in the States before getting the official go-ahead, and in Europe antitrust watchdogs sent questionnaires to the competition in order to gauge the impact on the messaging game before deciding. In May, Facebook looked into getting the European Commission involved to bypass the holdup of waiting on each country to okay the deal. Of course, there's a lot of sexting to take into account across the pond, so officials had to be careful with the due diligence.

An EU commission has accused Ireland of granting "state aid" tax breaks to Apple that may break market rules. That was the result of an investigation by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over Irish deals brokered in 1991 and 2007. It has now asked Ireland to provide more information about its tax arrangements with Apple and other companies, including Fiat and Starbucks. The OECD also looking into Luxembourg and the Netherlands as part of a larger probe to find out if certain EU nations help multinational companies swerve taxes. At 12.5 percent, Ireland has a lower tax rate than any other EU country, and Cupertino's complex tax deals there have been questioned before. As the US Senate saw recently, shuffling money around countries helps Apple avoid nearly $20 million a day in taxes -- and the EU seems to have a dimmer view of its strategy than the SEC did.

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appleAvoidanceEUEuropeanCommissioninvestigationIrelandOECDTaxesTue, 30 Sep 2014 05:03:00 -040021|20968964http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/09/22/dragons-prophet-kicks-off-anniversary-events-in-europe/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Massively&ncid=rss_semi
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Those of you who remember the distant and far-off past of 2013 may recall that Dragon's Prophet launched last year. Those of you still playing the game a year later are probably very aware of that anniversary. The game launched on September 18th in Europe and September 23rd in the US, so there's still a day until the anniversary hits on these shores. But the anniversary celebrations have already begun on the European servers, possibly offering a taste of what US players can look forward to shortly.

You can see a new video celebrating the game just past the break, and there are two major events running as part of the anniversary. Players can take part in the Creation Night event, which includes a variety of rewards as well as a chance at taming the Illusion Night dragon. Meanwhile, the monsters in Wynnadia and Porthis have taken to celebrating themselves, and they've gotten bigger and meaner than usual. It's unclear yet whether US players will be getting the exact same celebration events, but EU players still have time to jump in on the festivities.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that libraries have the right to digitize books and distribute them to dedicated reading terminals without first obtaining the publisher's permission. The decision rests on exceptions built into the EU Copyright Directive for reproducing and communicating intellectual property. Specifically it says that publicly accessible libraries may make works available at "dedicated terminals... for the purpose of research or private study." German publisher Eugen Ulmer, which filed the suit in question against the Technical University of Darmstadt, can't be happy with the result. But, the court didn't hand libraries a blank check to freely pass around digitized content either. The law still prevents these digitized copies from being stored on USB keys or printed out. Under the Copyright Directive, the act of printing or storing the files would mean the individual, not the library, was making the copy -- which would violate the law.

A few months back, it looked like that Google was set to avoid fines from the European Commission stemming from a multi-year probe into the outfit burying rival ads in search results. With new "arguments and data," the competition said it isn't satisfied with those concessions, and Reuters reports that the search giant will have to pony up more in order to close the case. If you'll recall, Google had agreed to give Bing, Yahoo and others equal visibility rather than face a $5 million fine, but after those companies weren't happy with the proposal and submitted new claims, the Commission wants a revised offer. In response to an ad by publishers on the other side, executive chairman Eric Schmidt posted a letter on Financial Times over the weekend. Saying that it was built "to show results that answer the user's queries directly," Schmidt maintained that the company doesn't promote its own stuff "at the expense of our competitors."

Arianespace, the company that launches satellites for the European Union, has had to concede that its latest mission hasn't been a complete success. Friday's launch conveyed two satellites, Dorea and Milena, into orbit to help build out Galileo, the EU's homegrown alternative to GPS and GLONASS. Everything had gone to plan when the Soyuz rocket reached the upper atmosphere and deployed the satellites, but shortly after, authorities realized that the units were in "noncompliant orbit," which means they're spinning around the planet in the wrong orbit.

Google has previously offered a little bit of insight into how it handles (and occasionally mishandles) the EU's "right to be forgotten" (RTBF) requests, but it has largely been a nebulous process. How do you know whether or not you'll be scrubbed from search results? Well, things just got a little bit clearer: the company has published a letter to the EU explaining how it manages those demands for obscurity. The internet firm says it weighs both the nature of targeted sites and prominence of a person against the "general economic interest" to provide an accurate search engine. It's likely to remove results for an embarrassing blog post, for example, but it will likely turn you down if you're trying to hide court rulings or censor less-than-flattering news.

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eueuropegoogleinternetprivacyRightToBeForgottensearchSat, 02 Aug 2014 15:55:00 -040021|20940964http://www.joystiq.com/2014/07/19/google-wont-call-games-with-in-app-purchases-free-anymore/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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In an era where video games can be sold as "free-to-pay" and/or "freemium" products, it's important to know what "free" really means. A "free" game might actually cost you nothing and generate revenue purely through in-game advertising, or it might be free to download, but in-game purchases can set you back quite the hefty sum. As they say, freedom isn't free. Thankfully, Google is here to help clarify the distinction.

Engadget reports that after the European Commission requested Google change the way it markets the apps shown on digital storefronts such as its Google Play market, the company responded that it would take several initiatives to keep consumers informed, including no longer allowing apps with in-app purchases to label themselves as "free."

Google said it would also implement guidelines for games and developers so that children would not be encouraged to buy items once in-game. Kind of makes you long for the days when kids would sneak some cash out of the parental stash to buy a phosphate from the drug store soda jerk, huh?

Check out the top smartphones you can buy right now, read to your heart's content with Kindle Unlimited, our review of the Samsung ATIV Book 9 2014 Edition and find out how to live off vending machines in Tokyo. All that and more inside Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.

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daily roundupEUfree-to-playgooglepay-to-winreviewssamsung ativ book 9tdrvending machinesFri, 18 Jul 2014 20:33:00 -040021|20933698http://www.joystiq.com/2014/07/18/europe-wants-better-safeguards-on-in-app-ios-purchases/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
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It appears the European Commission isn't thrilled with Apple's slow movement to provide more safeguards from accidental in-app purchases made on its devices. The administration issued a press release today discussing joint action from the firm and member states to enforce better protection for consumers in regards to incidental purchases, praising Google's proposed solutions to the issue.

"Although, regrettably, no concrete and immediate solutions have been made by Apple to date to address the concerns linked in particular to payment authorisation," the European Commission wrote, noting that Apple said it will address the issues in due time, though it did not provide a time-frame for the changes. An Apple spokesman told Reuters that "over the last year we made sure any app which enables customers to make in-app purchases is clearly marked," and that it will "continue to work with the EC member states to respond to their concerns."

The European Commission has said that while Google addressed its concerns around games with in-app purchasing, Apple has yet to offer a strategy. Following hordes of complaints by outraged parents, the EU asked both companies to implement changes to the way they sell such apps in their stores. Those include not misleading consumers about supposedly "free" games, not "directly exhorting" children to buy in-game items, thoroughly informing customers about payment arrangements and forcing game-makers to provide contact information.

Amazon believes its European distribution network is pretty damn solid, so to prove that, it's added a new delivery tier for Prime members within Europe. From today, subscribers can enjoy free two-day deliveries on over a million products stored in other EU countries. Previously, Amazon would make you wait between 3-7 days, but thanks to a number of "improvements and innovations in its cross border delivery network," the company reckons it can offer expedited shipping on more than 3 million products by year end. Although most will continue to rely on domestic next-day deliveries (when available), Amazon's expansion will be welcome news to those who can only get what they need from sellers in other countries.

Microsoft is clearly taking a cautious stance on the European Union's "right to be forgotten;" several weeks after Google started accepting requests to scrub yourself out of search results, you can finally ask for the same treatment on Bing. The company has posted a form that walks EU residents through the request process, giving them a relatively easy way to block offending pages from showing up in queries.